


Defective Business

by CaloWolf



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, CaloWolf, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Pearlidot Business AU, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, pearlidot - Freeform, will add more tags as it progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 17:08:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4843508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaloWolf/pseuds/CaloWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl believed she lead a satisfying life, she had a good job at "Crystal Gems Enterprises", she had the love of her life, good friends, she was successful. But when her world comes crashing down she quits her job and moves out leaving everything she ever cared for behind. After 3 years she decides it's time to finally move on when she notices how much of a mess her life is in, seeking out for job opportunities she comes across "Diamond Authorities Corporation", wich is the rival company of her last job and the biggest, most successful innovative technology company. Gathering up courage she enters the massive building not expecting that she would have to work for the CTO, a surprisingly annoying person who's also the daughter of the company's CEO. Pearlidot Business AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defective Business

The soft honking of cars could be heard at the distance in the afternoon, a really tall building could be seen obstructing most of the sun’s rays from the few parked cars in the street, you could easily appreciate the fact that everyone must be working in this very same building given the fact how the street was completely empty of people, almost eerily so. It was a quiet day for Pearl as usual but not for the reasons she would usually enjoy, what she was about to do sure did promise for those calm times to cease to exist.

Truth be told, she felt very anxious and conflicted, she really didn’t want to do this, she felt like a traitor, a traitor to her friends and ex-coworkers, could she really call her friends _friends_ though? After what she did she wouldn’t be surprised to find out they don’t want anything to do with her anymore…

It’s been 3 years after all since Pearl left “Crystal Gems Enterprises”, she just _couldn’t_ take it anymore, she felt completely shattered into pieces when…

Pearl sighed and looked at the sky while absentmindedly rubbing her arm, a few clouds could be seen.

_‘It still hurts to even think about it.’_

Pearl believed she lead a satisfying life, she had a good job at "Crystal Gems Enterprises", she had the love of her life, good friends, she was successful.

At least until everything came crashing down, she just had to get away from everything, away from it, now her life was the complete opposite, she no longer believed her life was even remotely satisfying, she had to go through a lot of stressful part time jobs to pay the bills of her new apartment ranging from house keeper to cashier at the Big Donut, she no longer has the love of her life, she cut ties with her good friends the moment she moved out, going as far as to buying a new crappy phone and throwing her old one through her last apartment’s window from the 18th floor successfully erasing any way to contact her and last but not least, she **_was_** successful, she used to be.

She still feels like the moment she moved out the shadow of her former self stayed there while she was here, sulking in the middle of the street contemplating whether or not she should get a proper job and try to reach once again for her shadow, to become who she used to be, she’s so sick of everything and she misses happiness, even if she won’t ever be able to feel happy again she holds tight on the hope that at least she will be able to feel something similar to it, but who was she kidding? She’s just chasing ghosts.

Glancing at the giant, intimidating building in front of her she tries to hold down a shiver that comes out of nowhere, putting her game face on she attempted to pep talk herself, “Okay Pearl, get a hold of yourself, stop with the sulking, you can do better.” Gripping her arm until her knuckles where white she let out a shaky breath. “Calm down, breath in and out, in and out.”

Going through a mental list of reasons as to why she needs to get her life back on the road she begins to give herself a little confidence and she honestly hated the fact that she only had been able to eat cup noodles or ready to eat meals and barely anything that actually qualified as _food_ to her for 3 years because of the little money she gets, if she sees one more cup of noodles she might as well eat bread with nothing.

Alright. Alright!

Straightening her back and holding her chin up high she makes her way into the astounding fancy building that almost looked like made of glass, the entrance of it was just as luxurious.

The first thing she noticed once inside was the fact that the reception room was _huge,_ everything here looked so elegant and trendy-esque, so refined, the walls are pristine white with a barely noticeable hint of yellow, the floor tiles so clean you can almost use them as a mirror, it has a beautiful pattern that ends with the shape of a diamond at the center. The lights giving a sense of serenity behind their panels held up by steel, a few fancy chairs and leather sofas aligned at one end of the room with a glass coffee table, must be the waiting area, and last the incredibly high-tech security cameras lined up in a slightly hidden-but-not-quite manner.

The second thing was the amused recepcionist that was intently watching her and the really buff looking security guard standing still beside the desk, she gave a very intimidating vibe while the recepcionist gave quite the opposite, welcoming, even.

While Pearl was heading towards their way she could make out part of what they were saying, the recepcionist had quite the delighted tone to her voice while the taller woman had a hint of suspicion in hers.

“-ike we’ve got a new one, it’s been a while since the last one.”

“Yhea, as long as she doesn’t plan on doing anything funny we’re good.”

Once Pearl got to the recepcionist she immediately straightened in her chair and changed from resting her cheek on one hand to resting her chin on both, “Hello, welcome to Diamond Authorities Corporation, I’m Lapis Lazuli, how may I help you?” She asked as Pearl glanced around while wondering how such a place allowed a girl that dyes her hair blue work as recepcionist.

Pearl lightly cleared her throat before speaking so as to not sound so nervous just by being in there, “I uh, umm…” ‘ _Mental facepalm’_ “I was wondering if I could speak to who’s in charge of hiring new people into the company, I’m looking for a job.” She managed to say somewhat confidently while fumbling with the strap of her cream colored bag.

Lapis smiled with a hint of mischievously in her actions, “Oh you mean the CEO? I will have to phone her to inform that you want to meet with her.” Pearl gasped almost immediately.

“What? No, I was looking to speak to the senior management team, not the head of the company!” She hurriedly exclaimed, fearing that all the hopes for a new job here would banish if this recepcionist suddenly phoned the CEO who might be _very_ busy instead of who should be supposed to be in charge of hiring newcomers.

Lapis smiled even wider, oh how she loved to mess with newcomers, but it’s not that she didn’t understand Pearl, no not all, quite the opposite actually, “The CEO of this company is the one that hires, Ms. Yellaine Diamond likes to meet who’s going to potentially work in here personally so she gets to know who brings her money or who will cost her money,” She shrugged, “That’s just how she likes to run her business.” She finished with a small pause to enjoy the uneasy look the girl before her had and then continued with a playful tone.

“So how’s it gonna be? Want me to phone her up and tell her that she’s got a new potential employee or are you just gonna give up and keep looking impressed by this fancy building?”

Pearl just stared at Lapis, she was for real?

Sighing, she lightly leaned over the desk and replied, “Alright, please call her, Lapis La-“ She was cut off by a hand held in front of her, the blue haired girl looking really excited, “Oh just Lapis! Lapis is fine, I will inform Ms. Diamond immediately,” Holding the phone in her hand while she hovered her other hand over the buttons, still looking at Pearl, “I’m going to need your name please.”

“Just Pearl is fine” She commented nonchalantly.

“Alright “Just Pearl”, hold on while I inform her.” And with that Lapis pressed a few buttons waiting for Ms. Diamond to pick up, Pearl rolled her eyes at the overly teasing nature of this girl but made no comments about it.

After a few seconds and beeps from the machine the head of the company picked up the phone making Pearl unconsciously straighten up once again. “Hello Ma’am, there’s a girl here that wants to apply for an interview, her name is Pearl.” Lapis paused listening intently to the reply on the other end of the phone, “Yes, I will inform her immediately, thank you Ma’am.” Lapis set down the phone and hung up, already looking at Pearl she grinned.

“Ms. Yellaine Diamond will meet you right now, take her personal elevator, it’s at the end of the left hallway, go to the 60th floor, it’s the last one so you can’t miss it.” She pointed at the far end of the room.

“Thank you.” Pearl slightly bowed and made her way towards the hallway.

Lapis and the security guard looked at her go, Lapis once again relaxed and slouched on her chair, holding up the side of her head with one arm, she was the first to speak up.

“So how much do you give her Jasper?” The buff woman looked at her and then held her chin in thought.

“Hm, a year, maybe even months.” She replied.

Lapis glanced at her with curiosity, “Really? I’d say she might stay here far more than that, she looked like she has gone through a lot.” She finished yawning, already bored out of her mind now that she had no one to mess with. “If I’m right you owe me money.” Jasper made a “pft” sound and told her to fuck off.

* * *

 

Pearl, already at the end of the long hallway looked at the two elevators in front of her that were side by side along with a small green sign pointing around the right corner where the emergency stairs were located.

Both elevators are incredibly fancy, she had no doubt the metal used for the doors are expensive, the two elevators must be the personal elevators of the higher ups in this company, the CEO and the CTO, respectively it seemed as Pearl read the plaques above the button panels.

Pearl took the one on the left that indicated this was the CEO’s elevator, once inside she pressed the button for the 60th floor, the doors closed and the elevator made it’s journey while she took the moment to appreciate the design of it, looking around the mirror walls that made infinite reflections of herself.

She noticed how it smelled like pine trees inside, there’s probably an ambient aromatizer somewhere in the ceiling of the elevator. As the elevator was quickly going up she started feeling in full force her anxiety as the numbers were getting closer and closer to 60. She didn’t want to mess up, she never before had to do a job interview and certainly not to a CEO, she has seen pictures of Yellaine Diamond before, she always looked serious and intimidating on them, always on the perfect angle.

She tried to relax but it only served to make her more nervous, her mind going through a lot of scenerios in which she didn’t end up with the job and worse, made a fool of herself.

Crossing her arms she gripped her elbows to stop herself from shaking, playing “Graceful Ghost Rag” in her head to try to calm down but it only came to an abrupt halt when the elevator stopped with a soft ding and the doors opened, signaling they arrived at the floor.

Stepping out the elevator and into the CEO’s floor she stood in place for a few seconds to appreciate the looks of the place she was standing in, if she thought the reception area was fancy it was nothing compared to these halls, the walls and the lights are amazing. The walls are an elegant wine red with some sharp small outlines along the borders before they connected to the ebony wood panels under it that separated it from the floor (which definetely confirmed that everything here was super expensive.) The square light panels were soft and dim enough to light up the whole place but not enough to make it super bright, it was quite relaxing.

Pearl began to walk ahead in the hallway in front of her which seemed to be the most logical direction to the CEO’s office, towards the huge doors that seemed to be made with polished dalbergia wood with silver handles. The marble floor had a long scarlet cut and loop carpet with small diamond patterns that was meant to be walked on but Pearl decided she would rather walk by the side of it on the marble floor instead, the carpet looked _so_ utterly expensive that she was afraid she might stain it by walking on it, everything here was simply too expensive, it made her uneasy. It just goes to show how powerful and rich Yellaine Diamond is.

Once Pearl got to the door she grew hesitant to knock on it, what if the CEO thought she wasn’t cut for the job? What if she makes a bad first impression? What if her formal attire was not good enough for her? There are a million of possibilities in which something could go wrong but she _HAD_ to at least _TRY_ , so she checked herself in her pocket mirror, fixed the strap of her bag so it wasn’t crooked, dusted her clothes from imaginary dust and made sure everything was aligned correctly. With one last look she exhaled and knocked on the door, waiting for Diamond to give her permission to go in.

After a few seconds disinterested voice came from the other side of the door.

“Come in.”

Pearl hesitantly grabbed the silver door handle and opened the door, walking inside as relaxed as possible and closing the door behind her, she took one glance of her surroundings surprised at how big the office was, it was even more luxurious than she imagined. Everything in the office was pricey but it was tasteful, there were a bunch of paintaings and framed documents and diplomas hanged on the wall in fancy frames of different varieties, there was cabinet at the left side of the room with various awards and prices and some stuff that Pearl guessed were just of personal value, there were two abstract works of art at the far end of the room, behind Yellaine’s desk there was a huge window with dijon yellow curtains at the sides. The furniture here looked more valuable than Pearl’s whole aparment.

Forcing herself to walk up to Yellaine Diamond’s desk she greeted her as politely as she could. Yellaine looked up from her laptop and softly closed it giving all of her attention to Pearl, motioning for her to take a seat in one of the two chairs in front of her desk.

For a second Pearl was sure she narrowed her eyes at her for a brief moment.

Once Pearl took a seat the woman in front of her immediately introduced herself with a surprisingly charismatic voice, catching Pearl off guard.

“Hello, I’m Yellaine Diamond, the CEO and founder of this company, my recepcionist informed me you wanted to join and work for my company, is that correct?” She finished with an inquisitive tone to her question.

Pearl managed to not sputter and answered her question well-composed, “Yes, that is correct Ms. Diamond, I want to work for your company and be an active member of it, if possible.” She replied.

The CEO’s mouth curled up slightly in approval, she liked how straightforward this girl was, unlike many others who would rather dance around the subject, being upfront is necessary for business. She clasped her hands together and leaned a little bit closer to Pearl from the other side of the desk, carefully inspecting her while preparing questions in her head.

“Do you think you are good enough for this company? I’m very strict with my company’s policies and procedures and I also am as strict with who gets to have the privilege to work here, even a lowly janitor position is something hard to achieve here.” Her voice was pretty solid and stern, observing Pearl taking note of her attire, her looks, posture and overall personality that she could get, any outsider might think what was going on in here was an interrogation rather than a job interview.

Pearl crossed her legs placing her hands in her lap and kept her posture firm but delicate, she almost instantly answered, a solemn hint to her words, “Yes, I am quite positive that I am good enough and even more so. I can promise that I won’t waste your time Ms. Diamond.” Pearl smiled politely.

If there was something that Yellaine liked in an employee it was confidence and this woman seating in her office seemed confident enough to take pride in her abilities and even take in her question instead of avoiding it or getting intimidated out of it like most people that had dared to try to join in the past. So far Pearl here already made quite a good first impression and had two of the things she cared the most about in a person, being confident and straightforward, now the only thing left was to see if she really wasn’t all talk and also had indeed a good academic and career record.

She leaned back into her office armchair taking a more relaxed position, a grin gracing her features, “Very well, can you hand me your portfolio or any documents of your education degrees and career experience? Also I know my recepcionist gave me your name but I need your surname as well.” She said while opening once again her laptop and setting in aside gently.

It was at the mention of surname when Pearl’s determination faltered slightly, growing slightly nervous she fidgeted but replied nonetheless, “I-It’s Zeisloft. Pe-Pearl Zeisloft.”

Yellaine instantly looked up from her laptop’s screen and gazed at Pearl, surprised , then her look of surprise changed to a smirk, an almost smug look in her expression, something in her changed slightly. She began with a snap of her fingers, “ _Oh_ so _that’s_ why you looked so familiar! You used to work as the COO of Crystal Gems Enterprises, everyone in the business media wondered what happened to you,” she paused and frowned before resuming, “ You used to be one of the most successful workers in the business industries, you were aclaimed for your skills and your intelligence in the market since your career began for two years but you suddenly up and vanish for three.” She finished while Pearl squirmed in her seat, uncomfortable from the whole situation.

She wanted to ask what happened so she just did, not caring that she was prying in her personal life, “Where has someone as exceptional as you been? You were one of the most important and necessary pillars of Crystal Gems Enterprises, surely your CEO-“ At the mention of her Pearl visibly twitched, clutching slightly her arms. “-Wouldn’t have fired you, so it must have been you who quit the job so suddenly.”

Pearl gives out a shaky breath trying to compose herself, this was not the place to suddenly break down in. “I lost interest in “C.G.E”, so I quit.” Her voice wavering as she finished, a slight slip-up from her demeanor, if Yellaine Diamond noticed she didn’t show it.

“So you simply quit your job?” She asked somewhat suspiciously.

“Yh-… Y-Yes” Her voice cracking, she digged her nails into her palms, trying to regain control of the situation.

She looked at Pearl for a few moments before letting go of the subject, allowing it to change, “Alright,” she started, “I will take your documents now, if you may.” Extending her hand towards Pearl who handed her the documents she asked for. Shifting in her seat she began reading, not that she really needed to since the fact that this girl here was Pearl Zeisloft was enough confirmation for her to know that she was in fact an S+ rank professional but she read through them all anyways.

The documents contained Pearl’s education degrees, she had a Master of Business Administration covering customer service, business finance, marketing and human resources, it also seems that she minored on Science for Engineering. So four years spent on the MBA in a very strict university that only allowed people with outstanding performance to study there, the fact that she also minored for something else in those four years also benefit her tremendously, adding  credit to her excellence along with the fact that she graduated surprisingly quick.

On the career experience side Pearl has only had about two years working for Crystal Gems Enterprises, as soon as she finished her education she almost immediately started working there with the position of COO, it must have been a very risky chance for the CEO to take since Pearl _just recently_ had finished university with no experience in any job but she proved to be excellent anyways, a genious some might think.

Once Yellaine finished reading all the documents handed to her she set them aside in a neat pile, she was very pleased with Pearl, shifting her focus to the girl in question she prepared to lay the news on to her.

“You would be a very valuable asset for my company, with your experience and academic skills you certainly proved yourself to be worthy for this company.” Yellaine said.

Exciment bubbled inside Pearl, already thinking in what kind of position in the company she would be hired for, she tried to keep herself as serious as possible.

The CEO then continued in her speech, “Unfortunately there are no positions open in my company but I will keep your number and documents in case a slot clears for you.” She finished with the hint of a reassuring smile.

Pearl felt her stomach sank when she heard the bad news, refusing to let go she desperately thought of what she could offer, she couldn’t lose this, not now that she has come so far.

“Wait! Is there no other kind of position for me to work here? I would do _anything_ so please, _please_ hire me, absolutely anything would be fine for me!” She begged trying to not sound so pathetic, she really needed this, all her efforts were spent here trying to get her life back into what she used to be like.

Yellaine looked at her for a few seconds, thinking deeply. Letting Pearl go so easily might prove to be a mistake in her part, she could be hired in a rival company proving to be a real pain like she used to be when she was with the Crystal Gems, someone like Pearl was definetely hard to find and she was sure she didn’t have anyone else like this girl working for her, there was only one exception though and that was her daughter.

Her eyes widened suddenly in realization, an idea already taking form in her mind, smirking to herself at how brilliant she was. Chuckling somewhat mischievously grabbing the attention of the girl in front of her, crossing her arms she looked intently at her.

“Well, there might be something that you can do afterall.” She said in a somewhat cunning voice.

Pearl instantly had a piece of hope when she heard those words, she hesitated but she couldn’t refuse anyways, so she took the bait, “What is it?” She asked somewhat carefully so as to not seem negative towards it.

“You can be the personal assistant of the CTO, _but!_ Your job would be more than just being a simple assistant since we don’t want your talent to be wasted on such a plain position, right? So you will have to serve the purpose of what she asks of you, you’re going to work on important tasks in this company given to you by her meaning that you will be almost like a partner for the CTO, almost.” She explained to Pearl leaning in her table to put more emphasis to it.

Pearl was somewhat confused but understood what Yellaine Diamond was telling her, so a personal assistant but more important than just that, somehow. But there was a question burning in the back of her mind thanks to her curiosity so gathering courage she opened her mouth and asked, “I see, but, why would the CTO need a personal assistant? Doesn’t she have a secretary?” She looked at Yellaine, waiting for her answer patiently.

“Oh that’s because she doesn’t like people to disturb her or mess with her work, she’s… Let’s say somewhat _antisocial_ and a real workaholic, I swear this kid never stops working,” She softly chuckled somewhat humorously then resumed, “So what I need is for someone to try to take some work off her shoulders but you will be under my charge so she cannot fire you even if she wishes to, she’s only allowed to command you.” She paused with a proud grin.

“So what do you say, are you in for the job _Pearl Zeisloft_?” Putting extra emphasis to her name when she finished, silence hanging in the room.

Pearl pondered carefully, thinking about the pros and cons, so far she didn’t see many cons other than having to work for someone who seemed like they disliked people but she made up her mind, “I will accept your job offer Ms. Diamond.” Her voice rang in the silence almost melodically so.

The CEO clasped her hands together, pleased with Pearl’s answer. “Very well!” She opened one of the drawers in her desk and took a bunch of papers clipped together out of it holding it in front of Pearl and with one finger she pointed in specific places where she was supposed to sign, “Sign here, here, and here, also here aaand here.”  She said giving the contract to Pearl.

Pearl read the contract quickly but carefully, going through the company’s policies and procedures then quickly signing the five spots where her signature and name should be with elegant handwriting and a cute star shaped signature, giving the contract back once she was finished, Yellaine swiftly checked that everything was in order and then set down the papers to mark them with her seal of approval.

Stretching her hand towards her she smiled and said, “Welcome to Diamond Authorities Corporation, I hope you enjoy working here as much as we will enjoy your service.” Pearl took her hand and shook politely, Yellaine then proceed to inform her of her work schedule, “Your job begins tomorrow morning at 7am and you finish at 8pm, you get certain days off if the situation allows it, I’m going to call the CTO to show you around the building now and to give her the good news.” Her smile slightly giving off the vibes that she was plotting something.

Pearl suddenly couldn’t help the feeling that she was taken advantage of.

Yellaine shifted in her seat and picked up her office phone pressing a button on the corner that had the number 52 on it, after a few moments someone finally picked up, “Come to my office, we have something to discuss.” She hung up and told Pearl the CTO will be coming here shortly, Pearl could only nod and remain in her seat in silence while she was thinking of how the CTO would be, she was eager to meet her thinking about how smart she might be or if they had more projects she was working on, it was no secret that the CTO of this company was a mastermind given how she was the one in charge of developing new products, at least that’s what she has heard sometimes in the past.

After a few minutes a knock was heard coming from the doors making Pearl shift in her seat in a nervous manner while Yellaine looked at the direction of the doors, “Come in.”

The click of the door handle could be heard as a person came in, unaware that Yellaine wasn’t the only one in the room as she was speaking in an irritated tone of voice, “Ugh, Mom, why did you ask me to come here so suddenl-“ She chocked on her words when she saw Pearl, embarrassed that she just called Yellaine Diamond ‘mom’ in front of a complete stranger, Pearl was looking directly at her with a confused expression while her mother just grinned at the embarrassing situation her daughter got herself in.

“Pearl, this is Peridot, the CTO of my company and as you’ve just found out my daughter.” Yellaine said introducing Peridot to her. She looked at Peridot and felt almost dissapointed, she was a girl about her age, her hair was somewhat messy, her skin was pale and she had dark circles under her eyes probably from lack of sleep. Her clothes barely passed as formal since it was an awkward mix between business attire and casual clothes, she wore a green hoodie instead of a blazer on top of her white button up shirt which was slightly wrinkled and her black neck tie was crooked, her black trouser pants fitted perfectly but the image was ruined by the fact that she was wearing green sneakers instead of formal shoes or heels, she also had a light green visor but Pearl guessed that it wasn’t agaisn’t the company rules to wear one. Either that or Peridot simply had daughter privileges since the way she acted towards her mom wasn’t one with a lot of respect, so Pearl leaned more towards the second option.

“Peridot, this is Pearl, she will be working with you from now on as your personal assistant.” Peridot’s scream was almost instant, “WHAT!? You can’t be serious!” She protested as she threw her arms in the air in a dramatic way and narrowed her eyes at Pearl like she was the one at fault.

Yellaine crossed her legs, she seemed unfazed by Peridot’s sudden outburst, “Yes I’m serious, you keep overworking yourself and you have literally no social life, you need to take a break or at the very least keep a balance with your job and your sleep hours, you barely sleep anymore, so Pearl here will be working with you, that way you won’t have to owerwork yourself and also have another human being to talk to instead of your little _projects_.” She chastised her with a somewhat motherly tone.

Peridot sputtered words trying to come up with something to change her mother’s mind, “B- I, wh… But _mooom_.” She hissed the last words so Pearl couldn’t hear her but she did anyways, raising an eyebrow.

“No buts, what I say is final, you will show her around the building as well.” Her mother said with a firm voice.

Peridot sighed, defeated she reluctantly agreed to which her mother added, “She will also stay in your office for the time being, I will get someone to bring a desk and a chair to install by tomorrow.” That was the icing on the cake for Peridot, juuust great, she groaned and dragged her hand across her face, turning around she hastily made her way to the door cursing under her breath, turning the handle she went out and slammed the door behind her leaving a shocked Pearl and a nonchalant Yellaine inside.

Glancing at Pearl, she smiled in a reassuring way, “Don’t worry she will get better, she eventually has to get used to it whether she likes it or not.” _Eventually?_ Pearl thought.

Yellaine gave Pearl her business phone number,“So for now try to endure my annoying daughter.” She said in a composed manner and beckoned Pearl to go out and follow Peridot.

Pearl frowned but excused herself, she exited the CEO’s office and noticed that Peridot was just a few feet away leaning agaisn’t the wall, she was waiting for Pearl and she did _NOT_ look happy at all.

Pearl stared at Peridot, unsure of what to do until the other girl suddenly snapped at her, “Are you going to get over here or not? I want to get this over with as soon as possible.” So, already off to a bad start.

Pearl felt her arms stiffen but she ignored it and complied, “Of course, Ms.” She said respectfully which only made Peridot narrow her eyes at her, “Just call me Peridot.”

“Alright Ms. Peridot.”

Peridot closed her eyes in annoyance and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, “Just… Ugh, whatever, hurry up and follow me.” Turning around she made her way to where the elevators were located but instead of taking the CEO’s elevator they took Peridot’s personal elevator all the way down to the second floor, which was the floor where the storage was located, stepping out Peridot signaled the area they were in.

“We will begin with the storage floor.”

* * *

 

Peridot showed Pearl around the whole building just like her mother had instructed her to, going from the second floor to the rest, Pearl was thoroughly impressed by everything in this company, everything was so organized and of high quality, the floors were massive allowing for plenty of space between furniture. When they were going higher and higher up the floors Pearl noticed how everything started to get even more elegant and refined, it made a high contrast in the company hierarchy.

Peridot and Pearl visited the office cubicles floors, the open office floors, the team space floors, the merchandize floor where they tested products prototypes, a resting area floor for breaks, the floor for common conferences, the lunch area floor which also had a restaurant incorporated, the meeting spaces floors, and the support spaces floors, eventually they got to the higher up floors where there were a few private offices in each and meeting spaces for higher ups, they kept going until the 52nd floor which was Peridot’s personal floor.

Stepping out of the elevator and into a hallway that went straight ahead into an open room. At the corners of the room it had a left hallway and a right hallway leading to other rooms, Peridot stretched the sore muscles of her legs, feeling more relaxed now that she was in her personal space, glancing back at Pearl she began to explain about the rest of the floors, “The rest of the floors are places you can’t go to just yet, they are for high rank workers such as myself, and you’re not so you can only go there when you have to follow me for work, understood?.” Pearl nodded, good.

“Alright now follow me so I can show you around my floor.” She said irritated, showing someone else her floor and personal space didn’t sit well with her but it was better to do it than for Pearl to just go around on her own tomorrow.

She showed Pearl around starting with the first room which was the room at the end of hallway, it had a few couches and a simple glass coffee table, a few pictures hanged at the walls and a huge window that faced the city, then Peridot continued with the toor into the bathroom which was pretty big, it had a few bathroom stalls and a locker room that connected with the shower area, Pearl guessed this was how every bathroom of the higher ups looked like, then they went to the break room, it had the latest, best TV made by this very same company, a very expensive couch and a table, at one end of the room there was a bookshelf filled with books about different things, the break room was directly connected to an excercise area with different kinds of fitness equipment, the showers made more sense now. They got to the dining room now which also had a small kitchen for simple things inside with things such as a coffee machine, a microwave, a stove and a fridge, there was a counter with a few metal stools.

When they were done with the right hallway rooms, Peridot then lead her to the left hallway where the bigger rooms were; her office and a conference room. They began with the conference room, it was where Peridot would very rarely hold work conferences for debates and the likes, or to discuss other important things as Peridot explained.

And at last they entered Peridot’s office where Pearl would be working tomorrow along with Peridot, which was the biggest room in the floor and also incredibly **_messy_** , there were crumpled papers everywhere, some stuff was unorganized, the trash can was full, the desk had mug coffee stains, there was a pile of documents near the stains too, and from the look of it Pearl thought that this place probably hasn’t even at the very least been sweeped for _weeks_.

Pearl grimaced but tried not to show it, failing terribly. Peridot caught her expression when she glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, “Yhea, yhea, I know it’s messy, you will have to deal with it because it’s _my_ office and I didn’t have someone to share it with either, _at least until now_.” She said glaring at Pearl, clearly annoyed at the fact that she had to share her floor and personal space with someone else for the first time.

Pearl frowned but kept her cool, Peridot has been rude to her the whole time they spent together going around the building, it made Pearl slightly irritated but she managed to keep herself calm.

Pearl rubbed her left arm slightly and glanced around and then back to Peridot. “You know, I can clean up if you’d like Ms. Per-“ She began however Peridot interrupted her with a harsh remark, “Absolutely _NOT_ , this is _MY_ stuff, if you touch _my things_ it _won’t_ be pretty.”

Pearl flinched awkwardly and decided to change the subject instead, clearing her throat a bit before she spoke, “So, are we done with the tour, Ms. Peridot?” She tentatively asked the other girl who seemed to still be glaring daggers at her.

“Yhea we’re done, I thought you were supossed to be smart?” She taunted.

Pearl almost snapped back at her but bit her tongue instead, opting to be the more mature one she instead took out her phone from her pocket to look at the time, however she looked up from it when Peridot snorted in disbelief, “Why do you have _that_? Your device is simply _archaic_ , it even has buttons.” She said pointing at Pearl’s phone, it was a simple cheap old phone she bought after she threw her other one out the window, Pearl flushed in embarrassment from being mocked for it, “It gets the job done!” She retorted.

Peridot made a small noise of disgust, “Yhea, well you should get better equipment to work properly.”

Pearl looked at the hour in her phone, it was 7:45pm, already past dusk, it’s been 3 hours spent on the tour Peridot gave her, deciding it was time to leave Pearl put her phone back in her pocket and adjusted her bag, “Alright, it’s pretty late already so I think it’s time for me to go.” She said somewhat tired of how much time it has been.

“Yhea I agree.” Peridot said with a hint of venom in her voice. Pearl frowns and forces herself to say good bye to her instead of snapping back and quickly storms out of there offended.

She takes the elevator down to the first floor, all the while contemplating on just what the hell she got herself into now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter of “Defective Business”! 
> 
> I should have finished this first chapter days ago but I was busy with stuff, at least I finally fininshed this one, just so you guys know this will be a very long story with slow progressing romance, I simply find it unrealistic if I were to write Pearl and Peridot immediately have attraction, so they will hate each other and as the story progresses they will warm up to each other, eventually becoming friends or at least more tolerating, hurray for slow burn stories!
> 
> Also, the reason I changed YD’s name from Yellow to “Yellaine” it’s because it would be weird for someone to be named Yellow, so I changed it to Yellaine, a name very similar to Yellow and it has the meaning of “Shining light” because YD seems to me as the kind of character that shines when they’re present, kind of like when they take the spotlight because they’re so important, the name Yellaine is of Russian/Latin origin.
> 
> Also, about Pearl’s surname, I had to give her one because she can’t just be Pearl, so I took my time to find a surname that fits her perfectly for this story, her surname origins are German and it’s meaning is ‘Tender’, ‘Kind’ and ‘Graceful’( + ‘Wolf’), the wolf part I thought would fit very much to this story seeing as how Pearl is group dependant like a wolf in a pack but in this story Pearl leaves behind her friends and becomes a “lone wolf”.
> 
> Also, explanation of the job titles:
> 
> Pearl’s job was COO at Crystal Gems Enterprises, an important job that I thought fitted her perfectly.  
> COO: Chief Operating Officer (General Manager/Vice President of Operations), they make sure company operations flow smoothly and economically. They’re responsible for making certain that necessary work is done properly and on time, an understanding of details of the business and an enjoyment of handling details are necessary. 
> 
> Peridot’s job at Diamond Authorities Corporation is CTO, a very technological job.  
> CTO: Chief Technology Officer (sometimes know as Chief Technical officer), CTOs principally oversees development of new technologies (of varius types), they’re focused on technology products being sold to customers or clients. Involves developing (or marketing) new technologies, a CTO is more likely to be the primary representative of these concerns at the executive level.


End file.
